Product description

"Island of the Sun" recounts the American psychologist Alberto Villoldo's return to Peru in search of the Quechua Indian shaman Don Jicaram. The authors' earlier book, "Dance of the Four Winds," described Villoldo's first initiation, under Don Jicaram, into the secrets of the Inca Medicine Wheel and the spiritual journey of the Four Winds. Villoldo had begun that journey in the South, "where one goes to confront and shed the past." With use of the powerful mind-altering plant "ayahuasca," he had continued to the West, a direction also inhabited by fear and death. Now in "Island of the Sun" he prepares himself for the journey to the North, where lies the wisdom of the ancient Inca shamans. Traveling from Machu Picchu to the "Island of the Sun," a sacred site in Bolivia, Villoldo uncovers a profound secret about the journey to the East--the journey home.

Author information

Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., is also the author of "Dance of the Four Winds," "Millenium," "Healing States," and "Realms of Healing." Erik Jendresen is a playwright and screenwriter.

Review quote

"Profound and personal, cosmic and compassionate. . . . Memoir, Andean adventure, and quest for wisdom, the book is an even deeper, wiser, more moving tour of the extraordinary, with Villoldo a refreshing guide, frank amd engaging."

Back cover copy

ANTHROPOLOGY / SHAMANISM A moving testament to interior ways of knowing. --Publishers Weekly Profound and personal, cosmic and compassionate. . . . Memoir, Andean adventure, and quest for wisdom, the book is an even deeper, wiser, more moving tour of the extraordinary, with Villoldo a refreshing guide, frank amd engaging. --San Francisco Chronicle A narrative rich in myth, history, and metaphor. --Booklist Island of the Sun recounts the American psychologist Alberto Villoldo's return to Peru in search of the Quechua Indian shaman Don Jicaram. The authors' earlier book, Dance of the Four Winds, described Villoldo's first initiation, under Don Jicaram, into the secrets of the Inca Medicine Wheel and the spiritual journey of the Four Winds. Villoldo had begun that journey in the South, "where one goes to confront and shed the past." With use of the powerful mind-altering plant ayahuasca, he had continued to the West, a direction also inhabited by fear and death. Now in Island of the Sun he prepares himself for the journey to the North, where lies the wisdom of the ancient Inca shamans. Traveling from Machu Picchu to the "Island of the Sun," a sacred site in Bolivia, Villoldo uncovers a profound secret about the journey to the East--the journey home. ALBERTO VILLOLDO, Ph.D., is also the author of Dance of the Four Winds, Millenium, Healing States, and Realms of Healing. ERIK JENDRESEN is a playwright and screenwriter.